Counting from the first Bulgarian heat on 1st October, this was already the 18th week in the national final season for the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest. Starting on Tuesday and ending on Sunday, a total of twelve shows was held in nine diffrent countries and another seven Eurovision Song Contest entries for 2009 are now known.

Romania

All three shows of the Romanian selection for the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest were held this week. After the first semi final on Tuesday and second semi final on Thursday, twelve acts were left for the national final. In a head-to-head competition between televoting favourite Blaxy Girls and jury favourite Elena Gheorghe, the latter one could win the ticket to Moscow with her song The Balkan girls written by Laurentiu Duta, Ovidiu Bistriceanu, Daris Mangal and Alexandru Pelin.

• You can find the live report of the first semi final with the VIDEOS of the performances here.
• You can find the complete results of the first semi final here.
• You can find the live report of the second semi final with the VIDEOS of the performances here.
• You can find the complete results of the second semi final here.
• You can find the live report of the final with the VIDEOS of the performances here.
• You can find the complete results of the final here.
• Use our polls to give your opinion about the Romanian entry here andaboutthe nationalfinal here.

Czech Republic

On Friday, the Czech broadcaster has announced that the group Cipsy.cz will represent the country in Moscow. The groups has already tried to represent their country on both previous occasions in 2007 and 2008 but did not make it to the international stage. In March, the audience will have the chance to choose among two entries that will be presented in one of the smallest national finals this year.

• You can read more about the Czech choice here.

Portugal

On Friday, the results of the Portuguese online semi final were revealed. 2005 representative Luciana Abreu won the semi final ahead of Nuno e Fabía and Eva Danind. 1990 representative Nucha has also qualified, while Armando Gama, who represented Portugal in 1983, finished 23rd and hence last. The top twelve of the semi final will compete in the final of the Festival da canção 2009 on 27th February.

• You can find the complete results of the online semi final here.

Finland

No less than eight live shows were held on Saturday. The first one that kicked off was the Finnish one that included both the second chance round with all non-qualifiers from the semi finals and the actual national final. In the second chance round, Passionworks and Vink were chosen to join the six acts already qualified. Eventually, Waldo's People could win Euroviisut 2009 with the song Lose control written by Karima, A. Lehtonen, Waldo andA. Kratz Gutå ahead of Signmark and Passionworks.

• You can find the live report of the final here.
• You can find the complete results of the final here.
• Use our polls to give your opinion about the Finnish entry here andaboutthe nationalfinal here.

United Kingdom

After three elimination shows the remaining three acts of the UK national selection Eurovision: Your country needs you competed for the ticket to Moscow. Eventually, Jade was the winner of the selection ahead of the Twins and Mark and she will therefore present the song It's my time written by Andrew Lloy Webber and Diane Warren at the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest.

• You can find the live report of the final with the VIDEOS of the performances here.
• You can find the complete results of the final here.
• Use our polls to give your opinion about the UK entry here andaboutthe nationalfinal here.

Norway

In Norway, the second semi final was held. From the seven competing acts, Tone Damli Aaberge and Alexander Stenerud were chosen by the televoters to move forward to the national final in three weeks. Publiners and Janni Santillan will get another chancein 'siste sjansen'. Wenche Myhre, who represented Germany in 1968 and took part in various national finals, was eliminated from the competition.

• You can find the live report here.
• You can find the complete results of the semi final here.

Slovenia

The semi final and the final of EMA 2009 were held on Saturday and Sunday respectively. In the semi final, fourteen acts presented their songs and eight of them were chosen to move forward to the national final the day after, when they would meet the six pre-qualified entries. As ithappened previously,the favourite act of the televoters- Langa & Manca Spik – did not get a single point from the jury. That's why the group Quartissimo, who got twelve points from the jury and seven points from the televoters, won the national selection and will go to Moscow with the song Love symphony written by Eurovision Song Contest veteran Andrej Babic and Aleksander Valencic.

• You can find the live report of the semi final here.
• You can find the complete results of the semifinal here.
• You can find the live report of the final here.
• You can find the complete results of the final here.
• You can read an INTERVIEW with composer Andrej Babic done before the show here.
• Use our polls to give your opinion about the Slovene entry here andaboutthe nationalfinal here.

Denmark

Denmark is one of the few countries this year that held a very classic national final: one evening, ten songs. However, the voting procedure was rather complicated including three different rounds of voting. Eventually, Hera Björk and Brinck were up head to head and the latter one could win theDansk Melodi Grand Prix 2009with the song Believe again written by Lars Halvor Jensen, Martin M. Larsson and 1997 Eurovision Song Contest hostRonan Keating.

• You can find the live report with VIDEOS of the performances here.
• You can find the complete results of the final here.
• Use our polls to give your opinion about the Danish entry here andaboutthe nationalfinal here.

Lithuania

After three quarter finals, the first semi final was held in Lithuania. Ten acts presented their songs and five were chosen to move forward to the final of Dainu Dani, which will be held in two weeks. Furthermore, it was announced that two entrie from the second semi final were disqualified from the competition. The replacements will be announced during the week.

• You can find the complete results of the semi final here.

Iceland

The last country to airs its show on Saturday was Iceland and the international viewers had to face a disappointment when it turned out that no live webcast was available. From the four acts taking part, Elektra and Jógvan Hansan qualified for the national final, which will be held in two weeks.

• You can find the complete results of the semi final here.

Netherlands

On Sunday, the Dutch national final was held. In the gala programme, the Toppers performed all six entries before the jury and the televoting had their say. While the song Angel of the night was the clear favourite of the jury getting the top mark from all five members, the televoters preferred the song Shine, which also manged to win the national final overall. The song was written by Bas van den Heuvel and Ger van de Westelaken,although in the press conference Toppers member Gordon stated that Ger van de Westlaken does not really exist and the song was writen by him together with Bas van den Heuvel, a fact he concealed even from the other two members of the trio.

• You can find the live report of the final here.
• You can find the complete results of the final here.
• Use our polls to give your opinion about the Dutch entry here andaboutthe nationalfinal here.

France

Late on Sunday, it turned out that Patricia Kaas, who was chosen internally as French entrant for 2009, will perform the song Et s'il fallait le faire in Moscow. The song is taken from her latest studio album Kabaret and it will also be the first single from that CD.

• You can read more about the French song here.
• Use our poll to give your opinion about theFrench entry here.

Week 19: A preview

The following shows will be held next week:

Wednesday, 4th February	Andorra	national final
Saturday, 7th February	Lithuania	second semi final
	Sweden	first semi final
	Norway	third semi final
	Cyprus	national final
	Malta	national final
Sunday, 8th February	Ukraine	semi final

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The latest seven songs chosen for the Eurovision Song Contest:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbR9IS1ERYU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWtpxgCTFRs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_whQzV2iQQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPvrV9wvoiw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ro6Ujd4PvcY